Adele: Week 7

Paul tells Adele about Sunil's deportation, blaming her for it. He never would've called Julia and she in turn wouldn't have called the police if Adele hadn?t suggested he intervene. Following Sunil's betrayal, Paul finds himself doubting all of his patients and wondering if the whole enterprise is worth it. He's considering not taking on new patients and doesn't answer Adele when she asks if he is going to leave his practice. Adele thinks the reason Paul is so devastated by his patients' actions is because he regularly overinvests in his relationships with them, treating them as friends or children. He might be ready to give up on therapy, but doesn't know what else he wants to do with his life. He broke up with Wendy and wonders if he was ever really in love with his first wife, Kate, or anyone else, for that matter. In Adele's view, Paul had been substituting his relationships in the therapy for the real ones in his life. Paul agrees with her assessment and is ending therapy with her for that very reason. He wants to stop seeing her as a therapist, because it's too confusing for him to know if his attraction to her is real or just a byproduct of therapy. He doesn't know what her relationship status is, but believes she might be alone. Adele refuses to answer one way or the other. Therapy has removed Paul's compass of reality and he thinks it's time to reclaim it, though Adele doesn't want him to go. She takes his hand and tells him, "My door will always be open to you." Paul responds, "It's OK. You can close it behind me."